Thursday, December 9, 2010


This is a documentary (1 hour 15 min) about a group of crust punk/hippie kids who scrap together and buy a cheap sailboat, fix it up, sail to the Carribean, live off the land/ocean, and have a kick ass time. They have barely any money, but live out a dream.

This is what I'm trying to do with Windsong, though I am taking a bit more time with the rebuild. I have a lot of respect for what they did, but have a few gripes on how they went about it. I love that they sail everywhere without using the engine, catch their own food, and that they did all of this on such a budget that skill was needed to overcome easy technology. They squatted, stole materials and did some other things that I don't condone...but it's their spirit I love.

Hold Fast: Stories of maniac sailors, anarchist castaways, and the voyage of the S/V Pestilence...

Hold Fast from Moxie Marlinspike on Vimeo.

5 comments:

Nathan Beckstrand said...

Hi Erick, I have really enjoyed reading your blog. I am in the process of saving up for my sailboat now. I have found I do not really fit into the regular work in an office, shackle yourself to a mortgage mold.
I really enjoyed the Hold Fast movie as well. I want to go very simple when I get my boat. I also like the idea of not using a diesel. I will be selling the diesel and installing an electric motor when I get my boat. I think electric is much more reliable than diesel. They are very simple and have so much less to go wrong. I will use a Honda 2000i when I want to motor long distances.
Anyway, I am years way from my goal. I will enjoy following your adventures until I can start my own. Keep the updates coming. I love the way you go into more detail some others do.

Nathan.

Erick said...

Hi Nathan, thanks for commenting. Glad you are enjoying the blog and the detail I put into it. It is my hope that others can gain some knowledge on how to do things, or how not to do things based on my efforts.

Best of luck to you on getting your boat fitted out. I think ditching the diesel is a grand idea, of which I am doing my research on. The electric motor concept is quite intriguing and I am curiously researching if it would make sense for me and Windsong.

Thanks again!

Mid-Life Cruising! said...

This is the third time in the past week that I've heard about this video. I planned on watching it, but now I need to watch it ASAP! =) Anything related to our dream is always entertaining.

audeojude said...

The video has a few weird editing quirks such as at the extended blackscreen sectios. However, I found it exceptionally well done otherwise.. The content was pretty good to :) I watched it through all the way at one go..

There is a newer version on the guys website. Its about a 1.4 gig High definition version that he says has been edited a bit more. I haven't watched that version yet.

As to electric drive.. for boats under 30ft there are a lot of solutions out there that are drop in and reasonably prices ... 5000 dollars or so. for our boats at 20,000 plus lbs I think it would be very cost prohibitive to go to electric. The lower dollar systems would only push us at about 3 knots I think. Enough for maneuvering in calm conditions but thats about it. However if you were planing on going without a diesel at all and mostly sailing then an electric could be a good kicker for one of our boats.

Jason Moriarty said...

Hi Eric

Keep up the great work mate. Also could you post something on your findings on the electric motor.

Sounds really interesting, and I assume your usual amount of solid research.

Keep living it.

Jason